Thanks Karen. I will check out the epidermis! We ate the ripest one for lunch today and it was still quite firm (tasty though). I'll keep the other and see what colour it ends up :)

Linda

I think first fruits are more likely to be cross pollinated.

[QUOTE=GrowingCoastal;657755]"I'll only dare to save seeds from the first fruits of all my varieties"

Care to elaborate? I'm guessing that they are more likely to be self pollinated?[/QUOTE]

[QUOTE=Fred Hempel;657793]I think first fruits are more likely to be cross pollinated.[/QUOTE]

I wonder whether climate is a factor here. In places where winters are milder, insects come out of dormancy earlier or don't hibernate. So maybe there's more competition for the first flowers of a species and more pollination from insects.

In the northeast, if you plant out right near your last frost date, there are often very few pollinators active when your first tomatoes set, and those that are active prefer the cornucopia of nectar-bearing spring flowers to something like a tomato blossom.

I planted out pretty late this year--a whopping 6 weeks after my average LFD, and my first trusses on my plants are ENORMOUS. The tomatoes are very large but not because of fused blooms--normal fruit are just really big--and there are a lot of them on the truss. Usually, first trusses have fewer tomatoes in my garden, although some of those first ones can be larger due to more fused blooms earlier on. I think a lot of this is due to the fact that pollinator populations were very high when the plants started blooming.

[QUOTE=GrowingCoastal;657758]How reliable is that? I see that some of my bagged blossoms may not have mature fruit to get seed from.[/QUOTE]

It's probably pretty reliable where you are but not 100%. If I think I might end up sharing seed, I always bag blossoms.

I was noticing poor fruit set on bagged blossoms as well (last year, 100% of the eggplant blooms I bagged failed to set fruit, and the tomatoes produced smaller, fewer fruit from bagged blooms), but this year, I've started using a tuning fork to vibrate blossoms. I've seen so much pollinator activity this year that I honestly think it might be redundant for my unbagged blooms, but I've been noticing that the bagged blooms are all setting and growing fruit well, which is different than in the past.

I didn't notice all the crazy bumble bees visiting my tomato flowers when my tomato plants first began to bloom so I'm hoping that my first fruits will be self-pollinated.

Gorbelly has a good point! The bumbles were busy in my flower beds earlier, and didn't seem to notice the tomato flowers.

Linda

I am noticing that in the past few years Maglia Rosa has developed quite a following. We have fallen back in love with the variety (we naively fell out of love for a few years when we were focused too narrowly on only creating indeterminate varieties)

For those of you potentially interested in cherry tomatoes that have a similar "bush" habit as Maglia Rosa (and similar high, and early, productivity):

We are in the final stages of developing pink, red and [URL="https://www.facebook.com/172647249459847/photos/a.488448547879714.111381.172647249459847/1347796385278255/?type=3&theater"]yellow/green [/URL] striped cherry tomatoes that are semi-determinate, productive, early and tasty (like Maglia Rosa). However, they are all round, not elongated.

Not surprisingly, we used Maglia Rosa to develop them. At least 1 or 2 should be ready to go next fall, after one last round of trialing this coming summer.

Good luck on your project! I can put 24 hanging baskets on my 2 tomato gallows and Maglia Rosa always has its place there, but I'm also looking for something new-to-me. Det. or semi-det. varieties also like the gallows, if the tomatoes are not too big. So I'm looking forward to your results next year!

@clara
Perhaps I am misunderstanding your post, but are you growing Maglia Rosa in a hanging basket? If so, how large is the basket?
Thanks.

MR is on my to-grow list for 2018!

This is the year to try this one !

i tried them last year in my RGGS and did'nt care for them at any stage of ripness, might have been the constant supply of water , or just my taste preferances. don't know. nice managable plant with lots of fruit though. ---tom

I grew one in an earthbox. Poor plant had an aphid infestation. I tried neem and even bought
ladybugs. Helped, but never got rid of the aphids. Going to give it another shot this year.

Roper, did you use a lot of fertilizer? I discovered when I grew some brassicas in containers and gave them lots of fert. it seemed to attract aphids :(.

I would definitely give Maglia Rosa a second chance. It's one of my favs and does well in containers.

Linda

In earth boxes you have to use a measured amount of fertilizer. My other plants were okay. Not sure if I will put it in an earth box this year, probably not, but I will be growing it again.

I just planted my first seed of the year, MR included. I have a lot of 9" mum pots left over from last fall. I am thinking they would grow well to maturity in containers that size.